Washing-machine.



.No. 858.943. PATENTED JULY 2.1907. J. w. BBDINGPIELD. WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 1906.

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No. 858.943. PATENTED JULY 2, 1907. J. w. BEDINGFIELD.

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JAMES WILLIAM BEDINGFIELD, OF FLORENCE, ALABAMA.

WASHING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2, 1907.

Application filed May 19,1906. Serial No. 317,775.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES WILLIAM BEDINGFIELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Florence, in the county of Lauderdale and State of Alabama, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Washing- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is a washing machine or device in which steam is utilized to cleanse the clothes, which are held within foraminous or Woven wire receptacles within a boiler in which the water is contained, so that a circulation of steam is provided through the clothes or other articles being washed. A pounder or agitator is also provided, to agitate or press the clothes during the operation.

Various forms of the invention, all having the same general method of operation, are hereinafter described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure l is an elevation, with the outer casing or boiler in section, of one form of the device, with the pounder in position. Fig. 2 is a similar view With the pounder removed and with a cover on the clothes chamber. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing a modified form, with a plurality of superposed clothes chambers. Fig. 5 is a section on line 55 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a vertical section of another modified form of clothes chambers, suitable particularly for large and heavy articles such as quilts and blankets.

Referring specifically to the drawings, 1 indicates a boiler, which may be of any desired size or form, and is preferably cylindrical in form. This has a cover 11. Contained within this boiler is an inverted basin 2, which stands upon legs 3 at its rim, so that a flow of water may pass thereunder, to permit the desired circulation in operation. A similar obverted or proper basin 4 rests upon the basin 2, and these basins communicate through an opening in the bottoms thereof, which opening may be of any desired size. The lower basin has a threaded flange 2 around the opening therein, which fits through the opening in the upper basin, and receives a threaded ring 6 at the bottom of a woven wire cylinder 6. The ring serves to support said cylinder in the upper basin and also to fasten the basins together by clamping the upper basin against the lower. The purpose of the opening in the basins is to allow the passage of water and steam upwardly through the same, and the purpose of the woven wire cylinder is to hold the clothes away from the opening and so prevent clogging thereof.

The clothes holder or receptacle is formed by the upper basin, in connection with a woven wire cylinder 7 which is secured to the rim of said basin. The diameter of the basins and this cylinder is somewhat less than that of the boiler, giving a space at the side for the return of the condensed steam and allowing the proper circulation. Instead of woven wire, perforated metal may be used by the clothes cylinder, and it may be made of any desired size, according to the size of the boiler.

A clothes pounder, which may be used to press and agitate the clothes when desired, consists of a conical shell 10 having a handle 10 which extends through a holein the cover 11 and by which it may be worked up and down in the usual manner. When the pounder is not being used, the chamber is closed by a cover 8, held .on by two spring clips 9.

In the modified form shown in Figs. 4 and 5 a plurality of clothes chambers are employed, each of which consists of short cylinder or ring 12 with a woven wire bottom 13, and a depending flange 12*" at the bottom which will fit over the rim of the upper basin, or the rim of each other, so that the sections or chambers may be set one upon the other, as shown in Fig. 4, and individually removed or replaced. This enables clothes of different qualities or conditions to be washed separately and removed at any time.

In Fig. 6 a clothes chamber of large capacity is shown, for use with heavy pieces such as quilts and blankets. This consists of a metal cylinder 14 which is set in the boiler and is raised from the bottom thereof upon legs 15, the basins of the other forms being omitted. Within the cylinder is a raised bottom 16 of woven Wire or perforated material, with a frusto-conical support 17 of woven wire extending upwardly thereunder from the lower edge of the cylinder.

In operation, the water or suds are placed in the boiler and the clothes are put in the clothes chamber or holder. When the water is boiled the steam flows up through the opening in the basins and through the clothes in the holder and is then condensed on the top and sides of the boiler, providing a circulation through the clothes which cleanses them effectively. The pounder may be used occasionally, as necessary or desirable. The boiler, to give the best results, should be about one third higher than the clothes chamber, to give sufficient room and surface for condensation.

I claim 1. A washer comprising a boiler, a lower vessel therein, and supported on and spaced above the bottom of the boiler and converging inwardly toward its upper end, and having at such end a central opening, and an upwardlyprojecting threaded flange surrounding such opening, a vessel mounted on said lower vessel and having a central opening coinciding with that in the lower vessel and fitting over the threaded flange of said lower vessel, said upper vessel being adapted to receive clothes, and a foraminouscylinder within the upper vessel and threaded at its lower end on the upwardly-projecting flange of the lower vessel, substantially as set forth.

2. A washer comprising a boiler, a'lower vessel therein substantially in the form of an inverted basin, and having a central opening and an upwardly-projecting flange surrounding the same, an upper vessel within the boiler and on the lower vessel and having a central opening coinciding with that in the lower vessel and fitting over the flange thereof, and a foraminous cylinder within the upper vessel and fitting at its lower end over the flange of the lower vessel and bearing against the upper vessel, surrounding the central opening therein, substantially as set forth.

3. A washer comprising a boiler, a lower inverted basin supported on legs therein, an upper basin resting on the lower one, said basins having an opening for steam therethrough, a perforated clothes holder within the boiler and supported on the rim of the upper basin, and a perforated guard over the said opening.

4. A washer consisting of a boiler having an imperforate bottom a lower vessel within the boiler and spaced apart from the bottom of the boiler, said lower vessel having its bottom open and provided at its top with a central opening, an upwardly-projecting threaded flange surrounding the same, a vessel supported upon the lower vessel and having a central opening fitting around the threaded flange, said vessel inclining upward toward its outer edge, a foraminous cylinder projecting upwardly from the upper outer edge of said vessel, and a foraminous cylinder threaded at its lower end upon Uic upwardly-projecting flange of the lower vessel, substantially as set forth.

JAMES WILLIAM BED] NGFIELD.

Witnesses JAMES A. HILL, B. F. POWERS. 

